Flood Relief

Anuradhapura & Batticaloa
Due to the heavy rains and floods in the North Central and Eastern Provinces more than 20,000 families were displaced, with no access to food.                                                                    
NCEASL’s development commission Alliance Development Trust (ADT) together with the Raja Rata pastors fellowship & the Divisional

	Relief Distribution

Secretariat of Thirukkovil provided dry food packs to 49 families from Anuradhapura District and to more than 500 families from the Batticaloa District.
 
“Thank You for the dry ration packs. We don’t have any other
way to find food. Now I can manage to feed my family at least
 for a few days.” - A woman from Thirukkovil.

Northern, Western, Central & Uva provinces
Heavy rains caused floods & landslides forcing villagers to evacuate from their homes & seek temporary shelter at schools and religious institutions. Relief packs containing dry rations were distributed to displaced families in Badulla & Welimada in the Uva province, Wallapane in the Central province and Vavuniya in the Northern province.
A further 900 families from Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Galle & Matara, were assisted with dry food packs as well. The dry food packs contained rice, sugar, flour, tea, dhal, soap, Samaposha (nutrition supplement), condiments, salt, biscuits, milk powder, soya meat, Panadol, Siddhalepa, potatoes, onions and boxes of matches. The District Secretaries, Grama Sevakas, local Churches and CBO’s assisted us in the distribution.

250 children from the Dehiowita Divisional Secretariat in the Sabaragamuwa  province who lost their school books, school stationary & uniforms due to floods were assisted with school packs.

Typhoon Nisha -
In December 2008, Typhoon Nisha created great destruction to the Jaffna peninsula, Vanni & Mannar Districts. We distributed cooked mealsfor more than 800 displace people. Further, relief packs were distributed to 850 families in Nallur division in partnership with UN agencies. The relief packs consisted of a floor mat, a bed sheet, soap, a towel, a hurricane lantern, a water container, a bucket & a mosquito net.

	Relief Distribution

Mobile medical camps –
Medical clinics were held in 13 welfare centres in Kopay, treating 1,640 individuals.

Water sanitation –
We cleaned 52 school wells in the Valikamam division with help from the local authorities & volunteers in Valikamam.

Mosquito control –
Discussions were initiated with the Department of Health Services & the local municipal councils to eliminate mosquito breeding grounds. Vulnerable communities were provided with mosquito nets.

Emergency relief for internally displaced persons in Vavuniya

	Mrs. Murugaiya with her relief pack

56 internally displaced families in Nagar Illippaikkulam village, Vavuniya were assisted with relief packs.

“My daughter & I are widows and we find it difficult to find employment. We do small labour work for which we don’t get paid much. This has affected our daily income & the education of my children. We have been displaced in our own village. At this time your organization helped us. You understood our hunger. Thank you so much” - Mrs. Murugaiya

The activities conducted in 2008 were focused on providing children with an opportunity to participate in planning, organizing, decision making & implementing activities which contribute to the development of their village community.  A total of 49 Change Makers Clubs were established in Batticaloa, Colombo, Galle, Gampaha, Jaffna, Trincomalee and Vavuniya districts. Through these clubs, 4,900 children became active in various activities and projects. 120 volunteers made up of parents, elders & other organizations supported these projects.

Comemmorating Special Days

	Art Competition - Ratmalana

World Water Day (22nd of March)
An art competition was organized by Change Makers clubs of Batticaloa, Colombo (Ratmalana), Galle, Jaffna & Trincomalee depicting the theme of World Water Day. The children were awarded certificates of participation.
The Change Makers Clubs in Vavuniya raised funds for the running of their club by selling flags that depicted World Water Day.                                                                      

	Sinhala and Tamil Newyear Games

Sinhala & Tamil New Year celebrations
Change Makers Clubs in Galle, Batticaloa, Ratmalana, Jaffna, Pamunugama, Trincomalee, Pudukudierippu, Navatkuda and Vavuniya held events to celebrate the New Year. More than 600 children from Tamil, Sinhala and Muslim communities participated in the games and cultural event at Vavuniya. The Change Makers Club in Trincomalee focused its activities on the UNHCR IDP camp at Alas Garden. The children of the Pudukudieruppu club held its activities with the Navatkuda School for the blind.

	A Visit to an elders home - Galle

World Children’s Day (1st of October)
The activities were focused on community projects & all the ideas for this event were initiated by the children.
The Galle club visited an elders’ home and the club in Trincomalee organized a special programme for children with hearing impairment. In Jaffna the clubs held a shramadana at the Manthuvil public market, a school ground, day care centre and the Jana Hamuwa centre. The Kugannagar and Koomankulam Change Makers clubs in Vavuniya joined with the children from Anpin children's orphanage, the Adaikkalam Illam home for differently abled children and the Noah’s Ark Children's home to commemorate this day. 120 children participated in this event. Coconut, rose apple (jambu), bread fruit and mahogany saplings provided by us were planted by the children at Noah’s Ark Children's home. The Batticaloa clubs conducted activities at a home for children with special needs and orphans, the IDP camp at Sinhala Maha Vidyalam, and conducted community service at 2 rural hospitals.  

Education

Pre-School
The pre-school in Chavakachcheri, Jaffna currently has 55 – 65 children. The Manthuvil pre-school in Jaffna has 107 students. A nutrition programme is also conducted here.

Study Circles
In order to support children with their education, study circles were begun at the Thirunelveli and Puttur clubs in Jaffna.  The results were encouraging. 64 children passed their O/ L exam and qualified to study for the Advance Level (A/L) exam.
6 Change Makers Club in Jaffna introduced evening classes & the Punchi Kekulu Change Makers club in Poddala, Galle commenced English classes to held children with their education.

Mini Library
The Change Makers Clubs in Anaikoddai, Thirunelvey, Raththaladi and Pandavettai in Jaffna set up libraries within their clubs. This project was proposed by the children themselves as they shared the need of having a library of their own. The children provided books for the library and we provided the resources needed for managing the library. A small library was also set up at the Chenkallady Children's Club in Batticaloa. 

	IDP children with their school bags

Competitions
General knowledge competitions, debates & art competitions were conducted for children in 13 clubs in Jaffna.

Distribution of school bags
2,500 children living in IDP camps in the North & East were given school bags, exercise books and pens.

Community Service Projects

	Medical Camp at Thotalanga

90% of the community projects of the Change Makers Clubs are managed by the children themselves, nurturing leadership and responsibility in them.
The children of Change Makers Club in Thotalanga identified the lack of medical services as a need in their community. A medical camp was organized together with New Life Medical Clinic.
The Batticaloa club also held a medical camp and conducted a shramadana in the club premises.
In Jaffna too the children organized a medical camp with the help of Sri Lanka Red Cross (SLRC).
In Vavuniya the Change Maker Club members together with their parents set up a badminton court and a volleyball court for the club. The Trincomalee club organized an eye clinic with the help of SLRC.

Awareness Seminars

Awareness seminars were conducted on water and sanitation in Galle & Batticaloa. A seminar was conducted in Jaffna on landmine safety. In Galle the Change Makers Club, produced a drama on the prevention of drug abuse. Seminars based on ‘child responsibilities’ were conducted at Change Makers Clubs in Vavuniya. Seminars on Savings habits were conducted in Batticaloa and Trincomalee, encouraging children to start saving from their childhood.  Putting what they learned in to practice, the children from Pallathoddam, Linganagar, Anpuvellipuram and Poompuhar clubs in Vavuniya opened Savings Accounts with Seylan Bank, Trincomalee.

Regular Activities

All Change Makers Club members are encouraged to participate in craft works, drama, songs and dance to develop and practice their talents.
‘Story Book Making’ was an event organized by the Chenkalady Change Makers Club in Batticaloa where 113 children took part in developing creative ideas and stories. The children also made posters based on good hygiene practices for display in the public library, school and other education centres.
Sports equipment has been distributed to all the clubs to help improve the children’s physical health. The children are also encouraged to play local, traditional games.

Individual Projects
A Home Gardening project was successfully introduced in Jaffna where the children were encouraged to grow vegetables in their home gardens to supplement their meals & contribute to the family income.

Capacity Building

In May & October, the Children’s Sector staff attended training programmes on skills development, planning, reporting, budgeting, creative ways of implementation, new approaches, communication & spiritual growth.

2008 was a time of building relationships with different stake holders. We implemented several projects involving beneficiaries & grass root committees, local Church based groups, consultations with Government Agents, District Secretaries, Graama Niladhari & Rural Development Societies.

Livelihood assistance

	K. Nallamma

604 IDP families displaced by the war & tsunami, from Jaffna, Trincomalee, Vavuniya, Batticaloa & Mannar were assisted to begin self employment projects. The majority of beneficiaries were widows who were the bread winners of their families. Four awareness programmes and three workshops were organized conducted to initiate projects in home gardening, cattle farming, fishing, animal husbandry, sewing, pottery handicrafts, making cane ware & running  a grocery shop.

K Nallamma from Kumurumoolai Batticaloa has been widowed due to the war. Displaced many times over and living as a refugee, she looks after two grand children. Life was a continuous struggle as she did not have an income to feed them. “With your help, I bought a cow & a calf. My home is surrounded by grass & I have a good water supply to feed them. I get more than two liters of milk a day. I sell some milk & use the rest for our consumption .Thank you for helping me start this livelihood.” says a grateful Nallamma.

Micro Finance Projects

	Lalitha's Wood

At Karainagar 575 fishing families were provided with fishing floats. The fishermen’s societies agreed to use 50% of the recovery fund to support widows & physically disabled persons. 20 widows & disabled people have been helped through this project.
In Galle, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Jaffna, Gampaha, Vavuniya & Hill country, a total of 520 families were benefited through micro finance loans. 796 micro finance beneficiaries settled loan repayments from these same regions except Vavuniya, as this region was badly affected by the conflict.
Lalitha Wickramasinghe, a resident of Kalegana Galle, is a wood carver by profession. “The loan I received from ADT helped me to improve my work. Now I am supplying Laksala (the Government Handicraft Emporium) with wood carvings” said Lalitha with a new found confidence. The sole breadwinner of her family, Lalitha   is now able to educate her two children, take care of her family and also clear all her debts.

Micro enterprise Project  Training
A micro enterprise training of trainers (TOT) programme was conducted for leaders. The participants learnt to create a business plan under the guidance of an international trainer. The project staffs who attended this programme in turn commenced training client groups & others in regions.
The Livelihood staff also attended several Capacity Building Programs.

Multi-Day Boat Project

	Multiday Boat

Colombo: The boat has resulted in an improvement in the recipients’ income.
Batticaloa: The boat was repaired, insured & registered by the Fisheries Department.

Participation at Exhibitions & Trade Fairs

	Trade Fair at SAARC Trade Fair

Products made by our micro entrepreneurs (livelihood beneficiaries) were exhibited at the SME exhibition held by the Ministry of Industrial Development in May 2008.

In August, handicrafts, shoes, batiks, and wall hangings etc made by the beneficiaries were exhibited and sold at the SAARC Trade Fair. Our presence at the exhibition helped promote the goods manufactured by these marginalised communities.

Marketing Services
Handicrafts, batiks, foot wear and artificial flowers produced by the beneficiaries are sold at Waves of Hope, guaranteeing a fair price to the manufacturers.

Several activities were carried out in the East, Central hills and the North, addressing the water / sanitation needs of over 25,000 people from 5,000 families, during the year in review. The activities included construction of community toilets, tube wells, cleaning & chlorination of wells & hygiene education seminars.

Providing Clean Water  

Tube wells drilled in Trincomalee                                      8
Water purification units installed in Galle district            2
Water pumps provided in Walapone & Nuwara Eliya     2
Wells cleaned & chlorinated in Jaffna                              10

In addition, when Typhoon Nisha devastated Jaffna in November 2008, we took immediate measures together with government authorities to clean and chlorinate 52 wells in Valikamam.

Sanitation - Toilet Construction

	The Community Toilets built at Melfort Estate

Construction of new toilets (mainly for plantation workers in tea plantations)      48  
Repair and renovation of existing toilets (90% in IDP camps in Vavuniya)          120

 Melfort tea estate, Pussellawa is located in the Central Province, inhabited largely by plantation workers. Most workers live in poor conditions and the community toilet in the area was dysfunctional. The closest public toilet was located over one kilometer away.  With the support of the local church, we constructed 9 community toilets for residents of Melfort estate.

Awareness & Training

	World Water Day Poster

Children in 35 schools in Nuwara Eliya, Jaffna, Batticaloa, Trincomalee & Vavuniya attended seminars on Hygiene education.
World Water Day was commemorated with children’s art competitions & a poster campaign in Colombo, Galle, Jaffna, Vavunia, Batticaloa & Trincomalee.

As restrictions were imposed on issuance of visas for volunteers from foreign countries, the technical expertise previously obtained from international volunteers was restricted. We conducted 2 Training of Trainer (ToT) programmes in Nanu Oya and Vavuniya, educating Church workers on government policies and technical knowledge.

The primary focus in 2008 was to increase awareness of HIV/AIDS in communities, through several programmes conducted for Pastors, Sunday school teachers, youth leaders & teenaged school children.  

Training for Trainers

	Training youth leaders in Nuwara-eliya

In April 2008, a training programme was conducted for Pastors, Sunday school teachers & youth leaders who work with plantation workers. As the estate communities have low levels of education, and awareness on Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) and lack basic health facilities, the training programme addressed issues of personal hygiene & the consequence of alcohol & smoking as well, in addition to awareness and prevention of HIV/AIDS and STDs.

A similar programme was carried out in Galle with Sunday school teachers & youth leaders representing 15 Churches.

85 students from Lanka Bible College in Peradeniya also attended an HIV/AIDS awareness workshop. The objective of this programme was to equip & mobilized future Church leaders on a holistic ministry approach on how to respond to social needs of different communities, including those living with HIV/AIDS whom they will be called upon to serve.

Awareness Programme - Young Adults

Under the banner ‘Love Life and Eradicate AIDS’, several awareness programmes were conducted for over 1,700 students over 15 years of age. They had no previous knowledge of STDs, HIV & AIDS. The participants were presented with a specially designed book published by for us for teenagers on HIV/AIDS. The participating schools were presented with notice boards to encourage students to collect and display information and news about HIV/AIDS.

“Before attending tthis seminar I had a very negative attitude towards HIV/AIDS patients. But now I understand the reality. I feel this kind of seminar should be taken into villages as their knowledge on HIV/AIDS is very poor. As a student, I learnt a lot and I thank you for conducting this valuable seminar for us” - A  student of the Galle Technical College

	Awareness Programme in Pussellawa

Restrictions imposed by the security situation limited some of the activities planned for 2008, including the 2nd leg of the ‘Peace Train’ bringing youth from the two ethnic communities together. The 1st leg taking Sinhalese youth from the South to live and work with Tamil youth from the North East was successfully held during the previous year.

As the war intensified and bomb blasts in civilian areas, aerial bombings and suicide bombings brought suffering on people of all communities, the year 2008 also marked 25 years after the 1983 communal riot.  

Recognizing the unique place of the church in bringing together both Sinhalese and Tamil communities, the NCEASL initiated several programmes to bring about reconciliation and healing, involve the Church in peace building, encourage Churches to intercede and pray for the country and to build a national Christian consensus on the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.

For such a time as this’ - District reconciliation Conferences

During the month of September, regional conferences were organised in 18 districts in order to maximize participation of the local Church & leaders as well as to encourage grass root participation. The participants were invited to consciously take up responsibility as Christians for the sins of our nation, repent, resolve and reconcile. A resource pack with facilitator’s guide was given to all district coordinators, containing the sermon, prayer points, group topics and presentations.

Washing of Feet in Ratnapura

Interceding for the nation in Anuradhaoura

Prayer in Nuwara-eliya

National Reconciliation Conference

A national reconciliation conference was held in Kurana, Katunayake in November, with 62 pastors and Church leaders from 18 Districts attending. Three sessions were conducted under the themes of peace & justice, understanding transformation and spiritual warfare.  Participants were encouraged to discuss and analyze critical issues prevailing in the country, in small groups. The outcome of the small group discussions was an action plan and recommendations on peace building and reconciliation to be implemented in their communities.